When I was young and the world was still flat, you had to go to an actual store and look for greeting cards. Most stores had half an aisle to two aisles of cards from which to choose; a fair selection of birthday cards, a handful of seasonally appropriate cards, a dozen or so anniversary cards, a scattering of get well cards, one or two thank you cards, and one encouragement card showing a (probably long dead) cat clinging to a tree telling you to "hang in there, baby!" There was very little choice available to the consumer. This was before the age of the prosumer.
Now you can buy customized greeting cards here , here , here, or a dozen other places. You can also buy software to make your own such as this, this, or these. There are even free versions such as this one or this one . You can even make your own musical greeting card as shown in this video.
Prosumers can completely control the content and form of greeting cards now. They can choose to send a paper card through the mail, without ever touching the card through websites like this one. They can print out a card from their own computer using card stock. They can even choose to forgo paper and send e-greetings. Sites like Evite allows them to send invitations electronically and receive RSVPs electronically. Even with all these choices and the content control they offer, the card aisle is not going away. In fact, I have seen it grow bigger as the greeting companies expand their lines to include things like offbeat humor and less "mainstream" holidays such as Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and Bastille Day. It's also a heck of a lot easier to stop at the store and grab a card when you realize that you forgot to pick one up for your third cousin's sixth birthday today.
